Key Learnings From The Villars Institute Summit
The Summit aims to address the climate and biodiversity crisis holistically, through interdisciplinary and intergenerational cooperation to accelerate systemic change.
Company News
Mar 23, 2023
Rob Godfrey

Last week, I attended the inaugural Villars Institute Summit. I took part as one of 60 members invited from the Uplink - World Economic Forum innovation community.
Set across three days in the Swiss Alps, the summit united investors, entrepreneurs, corporate changemakers, and thought leaders from around the world.
Here are a few key messages and takeaways from my experience at Villars:
Investors can innovate, too.
Venture capital has a role to play in scaling new businesses and technologies to address the climate and ecological crisis. Uplink Day was a reminder that innovation isn’t only the purview of startups: bold VCs are looking to refine and disrupt existing funding models, philosophies, and priorities.
It was great to be joined by a group of Uplink Top Innovative Funds who are committed to change including Andrea Hajdu-Howe (Antler), Christian Lim (SWEN Capital Partners), Anita Keij (Chi Impact Capital Bryan Duarte from BlackTech Capital), Rokas Peciulaitis (Contrarian Ventures), Christian Jolck (2150), Alexandra Clark (Sentient Ventures), Jazmin Gustale Gill (Think.VC)
Measure the externalities to bring finance onside.
We heard repeatedly about the enormous funding gaps we need to surmount ($700B for nature annually, $3.6T for the energy transition). To engage finance and put capital to work where it can make a difference, we need to expand our conception of value and account for both positive and negative externalities (eg. ecosystem services, pollution). Though it’s not simple, measurement, monitoring, and valuation efforts provide financiers with the information and signals to shift the economic calculus and invest in impact.
Thoughtful comments coming from those working to scale green finances and fund a net zero and nature-positive future, including Sonia Medina (Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)), Keith Tuffley (Citi), Cristian Samper (Bezos Earth Fund), Patrick Odier (Lombard Odier Group), Doug Gurr (Natural History Museum), Christos Tsaravas (Manulife Investment Management)
Stories matter.
We are story-driven creatures. Narrative shapes our world and our perspective, both in the stories we tell others and those that we tell ourselves. Stories can scare, motivate, blind, or enlighten. Good storytelling takes empathy so understand your audience (partners, funders, customers) and explore their world. The formula to change minds and change the world just might be: beginning - middle - end. Reflect on the stories we tell ourselves or that we’ve internalised: these become our mental models for processing reality. Will a fast transition to a sustainable energy system * cost * 4% of global GDP or is it a no-brainer investment that will * save * the world $12T? Feelings are underrated and undervalued: let’s engage all of our audience in how we share narratives of hope and action: ethos - pathos - logos.
All great insights and lessons from, among others: Cameron Hepburn (Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment - University of Oxford), Thomas Crampton (Greenlight Biosciences), Prof. Illah Nourbakhsh (Carnegie Mellon University), Jonnie Hughes (Silverback Films), Alexa Firmenich (Crowther Lab | ETH Zurich).
Trust is key.
It’s the fundamental currency of cooperation, collaboration, and partnership. A systems challenge as omnipresent and wicked as the climate and biodiversity crisis requires all hands on deck for unified action. The ingredients are credibility, reliability, intimacy, and transparency. Technologies such as earth observation, IoT, distributed ledgers, digital identification, review platforms, open data repositories, and impact dashboards can massively enhance trust but trust existed long before technology: we mustn’t neglect relationships, cross-cultural exchange, and opportunities to co-create with others (especially the communities we profess to benefit through our work).
A lively discussion on this subject with input from Meagan Fallone, Rowan Fenn (ise-x), Agnieszka Lukaszczyk, PhD (Planet), Prof. Tim Flannery, and more.
It’s all connected.
Organisations might be siloed but the problem isn’t. Nothing exists in isolation. Our challenges exist in a deeply entwined nexus (eg. agrifood - biodiversity - climate). Effective action requires partnership and awareness of interconnection. Systems leadership demands an ability to integrate, partner, empathise, synthesise, operate within uncertainty, and grapple with tradeoffs.
Terrific examples were shared by Johan Rockstrom (PIK - Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research), Dan Esty (Esty Group), Dr. Walter Willett (Harvard University), Tim Benton (Chatham House), Gunhild Anker Stordalen (EAT Foundation).
Overall, a hugely affirming experience that only adds to our mission conviction. We’ll continue to leverage technology to bring trust and finance to ecosystem restoration efforts, achieving win-win wins for climate, biodiversity, and rural livelihoods.
Special thanks to Lee Howell, Julia Marton-Lefevre, John Dutton, the young-but-wise Villars Fellows, the entire Uplink team, and our fellow Uplink Top Innovators for an energising few days and many more to come. We’re honoured to join the Villars community of practice.
In the spirit of the Summit, we’re always seeking collaborators. If you’d like to learn more or explore opportunities to work together, get in touch via the website.